Abba (The Name of the Game)
If you havn’t clocked, this is a book review—see the references. The book was given to me by a friend. As a chain, “I’ve read it, maybe you’d like to try?” With the implication that, after, I can dump the book in a charity shop… or, if I know anyone else who would be interested, pass it on myself. Well, I thought, why not? Read it, I mean. For one thing, I value and listen to music. Yet don’t read books about music, especially books set on a band—fan things. I recall I once owned a book on Led Zeppelin. Dullest book ever, told me nothing. That book was my only effort, and that was a hundred and fifty years ago. But ABBA are a group you could interest me in. Not my thing at all, but I’ve I’ve heard a ferry‐load of nonsense about that group, yet think in the way that I might understand them, I could get involved. Wonder what I’ll find if I step that way? Wonder what anyone else thinks?
I’ll not tackle the book as through‐line, because it’s constructed as a montage—biography is patched with band history etc. Which montage, I add, is effective because it holds interest. But let’s start here—in online reviews, most reviewers dismiss, or even want to kill (that’s what they say, they feel that bad), the authors. The reason given, mostly, is inaccuracies in text. Personally, I’m likely to forgive inaccuracies. Books like this are written to order. It is difficult, sometimes impossible, to establish facts about the life of a person, let alone the seven or more people who made up the phenomenon called ABBA. So I don’t mind mistakes.
So, I’d like to bring up that this book was, from credits, partially written by a journalist. Or, somewhere, journalistic professionalism kicked in. Because, for sure, the book has background. Long before ABBA emerged as a group or sound, the members of ABBA, and their manager, were successful. And, in the book, this background is gathered in detail. The book ends with discographies, not only of ABBA, but all that came before and after. In a break from my usual ways, I’ve built some lists of references below. That, I hope, will provide both an alternative way into listening to ABBA, and also show how the book is useful for this.
There’s also a payload in Chapter 1 about the Eurovision Song Contest. Yes, this switches into fan mode, but then, the Eurovision Song Contest was a fashion item, so the fan approach is of a piece. Now, me, I had no contact with the Eurovision Song Contest and, aside from ‘Puppet on a String’ as a song, no interest either. I can speak only for myself, but I had fun reading this. Never knew why Eurovision was a show that anyone would follow. Though, however important that first failure and second hit were for Abba, reading about the Eurovision Song Contest is not what the book‐title advertises.
The book manages more. One long section, chapter 11, strides into the business dealings of Abba, and here journalism is again at work. Maybe financial journalism is not everybody’s idea of fun, but it is pertinent. An outline—Abba made heaps of money so were chiselled for tax. To get out of that, they involved themselves in active financial investment. This started with a bicycle firm, then diversified into many business areas, But then moved into oil, where the business foundered, lost a few million, so the market undercut their investment. Which shambles ended in embarrassment, newspaper headlines, law courts and corridor‐settlements. I’m retelling this as trailer because it’s a story and, if you have any interest, you ought to read it.
The reason I stay away from fan‐targeted music biography is that it progresses like this,
Then FlowerJoy visited Italy. They already knew they had fans there, because their disc Clockwork Passion had gone platinum in six weeks. The band played an exhausting tour of 62,000 dates in Lasagne, Ravioli, Fiat, Linguine, Dante, Sicily, Montefiore and Pisa, finishing at a sell‐out gig in Rome attended by Gianni Versace, Gianluigi Buffon and the Pope. Tired, they returned to Wiltshire to start assembling their epochal fourth album, “Who’s At The Door?”
Thankfully, this book is not like that. An outline of Benny Andersson’s time in The Hep Stars, and the financial story of ABBA/Polar (initially the record production company, later used as a vehicle for financial investment) is the kind of material I’m here for.
So, I’ve talked about one way to read through the book. But there are reasons for reviewers/fans wishing death on the authors. The first is the author’s handling of the lives of the band. I think we here need to step back for a look at style. The authors take what is called sometimes a ‘second/third person’ approach, where they write about a person doing or saying this or that. However, in this book, the authors project inner drama,
[on Frida Lyngstad] There were times when her resentment got the better of her and she displayed her jealousy of Agnetha, who she regarded as an irritating small‐time girl with no real place in the cut and thrust of stardom.
This inner‐drama to external‐reality move is risky. How can the authors know, and how can they say, that? I’m no expert on ABBA, perhaps the band blurted in interview—unlikely? Is this reading between lines? The writers push, push, push,
Agnetha and Frida had long disliked one another… They were like two in‐laws making polite conversation at a wedding reception… Opposites certainly didn’t attract in this case… Did they swap partners?… there was definitely something unexplained about them… Nobody ever twigged it was that they hated each other.
This idea surfaces repeatedly.
Now, I don’t know or care about the base. This is a style. But this summon of hatred between the singers is cited many times by critics of the book—the critics who wish death on the authors. Why do people get angry about this? Because it’s wrong and there is evidence to show otherwise? Because the critics don’t want their heroines/heroes to be drawn like this? Or further than that—that an arch resume of the personal is indecent? That this is a Curriculum Vitae on personal life—Mystic Meg as School‐Madame? These presumptions, legally, are about identifiable people. If someone got tough about it, could lead to action of libel as defamation of character. Except, it would be difficult to prove otherwise, and PR‐tricky, for members of ABBA to do that. So the authors are likely safe.
The authors also have much to say about the band’s manager, Stig Andersson. This story is told at a journalistic distance, so works more conventionally. Perhaps, for me, better. But I think more could have been done here. Like The Beatles, ABBA pulled in good people. Not that I know a lot, but what about ABBA’s video director, Lasse Hallström? He gets little mention. ABBA’s videos were minimal and, fourty years later, stand out as special. After ABBA, Lasse Hallström made a notable career in feature film. There were other people too—the studios at Stig Andersson’s Polar Records company developed a technical and original production style, created by engineers who lasted through the season of ABBA and beyond. And what about the support musicians? Perhaps I see this better in hindsight? Or perhaps… well… further down…
Whichever of the explanations for this text on personal life, and perhaps some of all the explanations… weigh that the text makes perhaps one‐fifth of the book. Chapter 19, for example, is a discussion of the two relationships in the band. That is thousands of words. All of this text is unreferenced, so the reader does not know what it is based on. All is undramatised, therefore uncontended. Which leads to an air of disbelief. That said, some of the reviews seem to concede, and I’d go with that, that this text is more involving than the usual fan‐targetted drip‐feed of sales and dates. But maybe says more about fandom, and fantasy, and the ownership of fantasy and it’s presumptions, than can be trusted about the band? So I don’t wish death on the authors, but the text made me feel a little sad for the members of ABBA. These sections of the book, while they call for intelligence, are a model of the day‐to‐day trials of a band.
Another reason given for wishing death on the authors is their frequent jabs of opinion. I admit, less reviews mention this, but complaints there are. Maybe that understates—time and again the authors, or one of them, spiels opinion on subjects outside ABBA. Where to start? Pick any chapter… Here’s an opinion,
Nobody listens to lyrics.
But then one of the writers has, not a page before, defended professional songwriting, citing Lieber and Stoller and Smokey Robinson. So this stance needs a backstep,
There’s an art to it, of course… You need to know where to fit the appropriate words with the right spaces… But the actual meaning of the words…. is irrelevant.
Ok, this author no value lyrics. Others do—type ‘lyric’ into a search engine. As for the backstep of saying a writer needs to get the spaces right, I’d say there’s more to it than that. Gabba Gabba Hey. The interest here is not if this is a useful description of songwriting, but why does this author need words to be irrelevant?
Another opinion, delivered early,
[In praise of the record, Kylie Minogue ‐ I Should Be So Lucky] …fundamental rules of classic pop music. Simple chords, irresistible choruses, lively singing, dancey beat, understanding lyrics, warm atmospherics…
Ah, an aesthetic (’scuse my long word). The author, if the same, wants music simple. Which explains, and is linked to, the opinion on lyrics. Me, I’d say no‐good—how you make understanding lyrics without nous? How you make warm atmospherics without a technical studio? If someone can write a sentence like that, they have thoughts about music but, for some reason, want to duck a fact—simplicity is skilled.
Well, here’s another opinion, Offered tangential to information that ABBA material has been covered by others,
The whole psychology of cover versions is itself intriguing. Mostly people who record covers do so because they’re not smart enough to write their own hits and to take on a song that’s already proved its hit credentials… is largely a short‐cut to success and a cop‐out of the creative process.
Yeh, right. Like generations of piano students ripping off Jane Taylor and French folksingers by playing ”Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”? Let’s note in passing the authors have little interest in how music is learned, created or performed. But… hold up, we’ve got argument here. A chain,
People who cover records are not smart
They are after recycling other people’s success
…because they want a hit record
This last one jars. That musicians want hit records. Sure, we would all like to be paid for what we do. But do you think The Animals covered “We Godda Get Out Of This Place” because they were pitching for a hit record? Or do you think that, coming from where The Animals came from, the song meant something to them?
I’ll tell you who chases hit records—A&R guys. Not all of them—some want to mine a scene, or bring home the unheard. But money is their job. Two of the authors of this book were record‐label owners. So, small step to guess where this is coming from. Read through the book and you can take a bolder step. The authors never mention a record that failed. The writers sometimes note music made by ABBA which was not a hit—the book lodges this music as failure. Again, the sense that these authors have little interest in musical development. But, more that that, the authors can be read as back‐reasoning—they think music is good if it sells.
At which junction, we have a crash—admittedly, a crash that much writing about pop culture heads for pedal‐down. The authors are arguing for simplicity. They also argue for sales as a measure of musical value. For those of this opinion, I have news. Here are the current best‐guesses (2021) of the big‐money music brands from the Seventies,
Pink Floyd
Elton John
Rod Stewart
Queen
Heck, in this particular survey (aired by MTV), Deep Purple barrel in at number 10. Don’t fit the scheme of disposable pop, do it? Or, in other words, simplicity is a poor formulae for making money from music.
Is there any resolution? Nothing in the book. But yes, there is an answer. One word will explain how the authors can defend simplicity when simplicity does not sell—efficiency. Occam’s Razor—it’s what we’ve got, and is often proved. Why play six notes when two will do? Why, the authors may argue, hire a writer when a lyric like ‘A Wop‐Bop, a Loo‐Bop, a Lop‐Bam‐Boom’ can make a hit? And efficiency can be extended into temporality. After all, the reason Dark Side of the Moon is the best‐selling album of all time is because, fifty years later, it’s still selling. That’s no good! We want it all! We want it now!
Sadly, the above outlooks model the story of the record company formed by two of the book’s authors, Andrew ‘Loog’ Oldham and Tony Calder. In 1965 they formed Immediate Records, and picked up a slew of the new British rock music acts. From Wikipedia,
Due to financial problems, the label ceased operations in 1970, and it has been the subject of controversy ever since.
Notably, the band The Small Faces earned barely a penny from a string of hit singles and albums. Here’s the keyboard player, Ian McLagan,
I made peace with Andrew Oldham who released our album on Immediate Records. I made peace with him because he hasn’t got the money anymore. and he’s not stopping me from getting any more money.
The Rolling Stones explicitly split from the label… did they so avoid ‘warm’ lyrics, short‐termism, and financial crash? In the ABBA book, one of the authors digs at the Rolling Stones saying, after the hits dried up, they became a touring act. Which may be truth, but most fans and critics believe the Rolling Stones output memorable work for a further six years.
Anyway, within the book these outlooks create a mess. They are no sale for the main proposition, are they? Here it is, Chapter 2,
ABBA are the greatest songwriters of the twentieth century.
Alright, I figured this argument, but no other reason given… Author’s opinion: ABBA are good because they sold a truckload. And here is the author’s cause—ABBA sold a truckload because the band created stupid‐simple music. Which they sang adequately. Thank you, say the fans—you, the authors, think we are a bunch of simpletons. And, for the passing involved, not a convincing argument. Maybe aware of this, the authors back‐step (again). They claim music production is skilled. They claim, time and again, for the ‘genius’ of Benny and Bjorn. But, whoever you are, by the time you’re there, you’ll likely be unimpressed.
As to these opinions, I picked opinions about music. But the authors are not short of opinion. Some examples: ABBA costume, ABBA lyrics, Frida Lyngstad’s hairstyle, The Beatles, Punk, music production teams, poor performance of singers in movies (ummm, Doris Day, Harry Belafonte?), pop movies, band managers, groupies, musicals, Australians, beards… the list goes on. At every turn, the authors loose their readers—jumping off at stations, one by one.
Right, bear in mind that I say when journalism is at work, this book is good stuff. However, it is laced with opinion about personal lives which angers many fans. The opinion may not be truthful, and is presented in ways that do not accept it’s speculative aspects. But, invention or journalism, it is a stab. And one‐third to one‐half of the book is not about ABBA at all. It is the opinions of the authors on pop music and aspects of culture related to pop music. Aspects like clothes sense, haircuts, celebrity and movies. On these subjects, the book fails on it’s main aim—it’s mean, stupid, irresponsible and engaging.
I’d stand the writers drive is to marvel at the things they value most in music, which is that it can make a truckload of money. I’d hazard the authors are regretting not being born in Sweden, and so missed a goldmine. They wanted to manage ABBA. The authors would have understood the battle between the singers. They could have advised on musical direction. They would not have made the financial missteps. Had the authors been ABBA’s managers, ABBA would have made more money than the gloom‐meisters Pink Floyd. The authors would have been swimming in money, money, money, and other fun benefits like fashion and glamour. Which benefits they detail and enthuse about. Their arch attitude suggests they know all of this. Or is it that their desire for all this generates their arch attitude? Ah, if!
If you believe, like the authors, that art is a presentation of tricks to throw a show for the gates, well, Heavens! this book is a good one. The authors present for you: Soap Opera! (extended version, engineered by the wizards of the biz). A detailed survey of exotic music scenes (however much that contradicts)! Dive‐bombs of opinion! And, Scoop!, a financial story of comfort to fabulous riches, to ruin and recrimination. And finally, Special Appearance! The one and only, the legendary… the myth who strides Pop Music, the man who launched a thousand hits, the idiot A&R Man! What more can you want? In my case, nothing, but I like music, of which there is none. And facts, which covers about one‐fifth of it.
References
Amazon listing for the book ‘ABBA (the Name Of The Game)’ ‐ Andrew Oldham, Tony Calder, Colin Irwin,
Brief but reliable coverage of Immediate Records, the record company founded by two of the book’s authors,
Lasse Hallström, director of most ABBA videos,
Interview with Andrew Loog Oldham,
https://trouserpress.com/from-the-tp-vaults-andrew-loog-oldham-1978/
Interview with Ian McLagan of the Small Faces,
Agnetha Faltskog
Agnetha Faltskog Jag Var Sa Kar (I Was So In Love). Written by Agnetha Faltskog. The first, smash hit in Sweden,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D10BkqFGi2k&list=RDD10BkqFGi2k&start_radio=1
Agnetha Faltskog ‐ Allting Har Förändrat Sej (Everything Has Changed). Written by Agnetha Faltskog. One of many Sweden hits,
Agnetha Faltskog ‐ Ein kleiner Mann in einer Flasche (A Little Man In A Bottle). A move to Germany was unsuccessful,
Agnetha Faltskog ‐ If Tears Were Gold, Back in Sweden, a comeback hit,
Agnetha Faltskog/Bjorn Andersson ‐ Han Lämnar Mig For Att Komma Till Dig (He Leaves Me To Come To You). Album produced by Bjorn Andersson,
Agnetha Faltskog/Bjorn Andersson ‐ Kings Parade, Single from the Agnetha Faltskog/Bjorn Andersson album,
Stikkan ‘Stig’ Anderson
Stikkan Anderson ‐ Baby Twist. From a long history of eccentric songwriting,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvF8_mWNAuE&list=RDEMBfal-S66P0uQYWwABz60IQ&start_radio=1
Frida Lyngstad
Anni‐Frid & Gunnar Sandevärn Trio ‐ Mr. Wonderful. Working bars with jazz,
Anni‐Frid Lyngstad ‐ En Ledig Dag (A Day Off). After winning a competition, shoved onto TV,
Anni‐Frid Lyngstad ‐ Simsalabim. Signed ny EMI,
Anni‐Frid Lyngstad ‐ Suzanne. A try at something else, in Swedish,
Benny Andersson
Hep Stars ‐ Cadillac. Got the group moving. Benny Andersson on keyboard,
Hep Stars ‐ Sunny Girl. Benny “I’ve got a song might be alright” Andersson. Or a smash hit.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hep+cats+cadillac
Hep Stars ‐ Consolation. They had garage‐pop down,
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hep+cats+cadillac
Hep Stars ‐ Let It Be Me. The film, the trips abroad, lead to nothing; the company collapsed, tax was owed—they tried other styles,
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hep+cats+cadillac
Hep Stars ‐ Speleman. Lead singer Svenne Hedlund and Benny Andersson wanted to experiment with pop, one reason the band split,
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hep+cats+cadillac
Björn Ulvaeus
Hootenanny Singers ‐ Jag väntar vid min mila (I’m Waiting at the Charcoal Kiln). Stig Anderson found a soft harmony folk‐jazz band, renamed them, insisted on the Swedish language (to match the musical politics of the time) and they had a hit with this Swedish folk song. Kept Björn Ulvaeus from his career in law,
Hootenanny Singers ‐ Greensleeves. Nine albums and twenty hit singles, Björn Ulvaeus on guitar and vocalising—here conceptually close to Simon and Garfunkel, without the songwriting or pop arranging,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI2wIEgN0dk&list=OLAK5uy_kRCeFgqpzmf9Yj3nvAXLdSAuBQFdU1wpk&index=6
Hootenanny Singers ‐ The Long Black Veil. A growing belief that production and the English language is the way forward,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnJP4o4Bzcg&list=OLAK5uy_n6yL4WLnKkDpEF1S2Vf7ZvoIyyT_1S5UI&index=11
Björn Ulvaeus ‐ Raring (Honey). Sideline showing a move to pop arrangements,
How it was
Norrlåtar ‐ Astridin valssi. Swedish archival folk was neat and sure,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgqQ0fztKI4&list=OLAK5uy_lUT2UGCGE4NUm0R1DzoCFSpXyo9KOk0wI&index=5
Jan Hammarlund ‐ Jag Vill Leva I Europa. Fake‐folk challenge to the listener,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBjVYNHaGaU&list=RDEMjiYTSeYMU2VF2FPfaQTGqA&start_radio=1
Kebnekajse ‐ Horgalåten. Not to mention instrumental prog‐folk fusion,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eJWq2_HnaE&list=RDEMqeYL0qpX70XQQNccSD2r_A&index=2
Samla Mammas Manna ‐ Samla Mammas Manna. …even 60’s psych,
The Hep Stars ‐ Isn’t It Easy to Say. Björn Ulvaeus/BennyAnderson, first ever co‐write,
Pre‐ABBA
Björn Ulvaeus‐Benny Andersson ‐ Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa (It Can’t Be Remedied By A Doctor). Two writers make music with two singers, pre–ABBA,
Björn Ulvaeus‐Benny Andersson ‐ En Karusell (Merry‐Go‐Round). this work became an album,
Agnetha Faltskog‐Björn Ulvaeus ‐ This Is The Way Love Begins. Another variation, made a little difficult because the two were signed to different labels,
Bjorn & Benny & Agnetha & Frida ‐ People Need Love. Unlike the above work, a hit,
ABBA ‐ Disillusion. The band assembled, Here sound like Agnetha Faltskog in a new shape of music,
Waterloo
Gigliola Cinquetti ‐ Si. Second favourite in the Eurovision Contest won by ABBA’s Waterloo,
Abba ‐ Waterloo,
ABBA ‐ What About Livingstone? Agreement is the second ABBA album was built from unused songs and abandoned Eurovision attempts,
Sweet Dreams ‐ Honey Honey. A hit from a cover version,
Go where we go
ABBA ‐ SOS. After a dim tour, doubts about the future and uncertain singles, they try this,
Frida ‐ Vill du låna en man (”The Most Beautiful Girl”). Still under solo contracts, both singers release solo albums. The Frida Lyngstad album was a big Swedish hit,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWpNLSkr090&list=PL58qGLD3AzaFDNvAv9Et9ArTd7pig3v07&index=4
ABBA ‐ Eagle. Not a live band, but they liked this,
ABBA ‐ I’m A Marionette. Strengths established, they explored,
ABBA ‐ Summer Night City. A move into disco. Opinions vary,
After
ABBA was finished. Members of the group tried other musical activity, or nothing. Most notable was the it‐will‐not‐die musical, spawning several hit singles and many stage‐cast albums, Chess. Also, the group were involved in what is called a jukebox‐musical structured round their famous songs, Mamma Mia. That was a huge hit—a success which caused a film version. In 2021 Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson assembled a multimedia show to recreate ABBA tours. They felt, to make the show present, they should write new material, the singers agreed, so an album of new material was released, Voyage.
Declaration of interest
Soundtrack for this post was Saccharine Trust ‐ We Become Snakes (album), Atomic Rooster ‐ Death Walks Behind You, then a track by Motörhead ‐ Lost in the Ozone (from the album Bastards). Post edited to The Fall ‐ Dragnet. So I’m bias. Book returned to a charity shop.